The US says work on the ban will continue By Emma Jane Kirby
in Geneva

An international conference on biological weapons has broken
down after the United States suggested the meeting should be terminated.

The news came on the final day of three weeks of high level
talks to discuss the effectiveness of the 1972 ban on producing
and storing chemical and biological weapons.

The conference, which is based in Geneva, has now been suspended
until November 2002.

Unlike other international arms pacts, the Biological Weapons
Convention has no enforcement mechanism for checking whether its
signatories are abiding by the rules.

For the past seven years the 144-nation group has been working
on a document to try to strengthen the treaty - a document the
US refused to sign in the summer, claiming it put national security
at risk.

Europeans annoyed

Delegates say they are shocked by the latest US move to try
to close down the working party.

Ambassador Jean Lint who heads the European Union Delegation
said tensions in the meeting were running high.

"We had a kind of agreement with the United States...
to be informed of their proposals and that one took us totally
by surprise and that was totally different from what the EU wants.
So for us this was totally unacceptable," he said.

But the United States Under-secretary for Arms Control, John
Bolton, claimed the US had foreshadowed their move for several
weeks and accused other delegates of simply not listening.

In a bid to save the working party on the biological weapons
convention, meetings have now been suspended until 11 November
next year.

Anthrax spores are being discovered in more locations US President
George W Bush has proposed making it a crime to buy, build or
acquire biological weapons for terrorist attacks.

He also recommended that the United Nations should devise a
means to investigate suspected biological warfare attacks.

The move - a proposed strengthening of the 1972 UN Biological
and Toxic Weapons Convention - appears to be a reversal of policy
for the White House, which was reluctant to back international
treaties before 11 September.

It came as the US Food and Drug Agency announced that four
of its mail rooms in Washington had tested positive for anthrax
during preliminary tests.

If confirmed, the finding would make the FDA the latest branch
of the US Government to be affected by anthrax.

The disease has also been discovered at a mail processing facility
in Kansas City, Missouri - the first incidence in the Midwest.

Four deaths

Four people died of the disease in the US last month: a hospital
worker in New York, two postal employees in Washington and a journalist
in Florida.

Kathy Nguyen, 61, died early on Wednesday morning at a hospital
in Manhattan from inhalation anthrax, the most dangerous form
of the disease.

As one of her co-workers was being tested for a suspicious
skin lesion, the US Attorney General, John Ashcroft, said he had
"no progress to report" in finding the culprits.

The latest death came as a senior US official warned of growing
concern that extremists may be prepared to use weapons of mass
destruction.

John Bolton, the under-secretary of state with responsibility
for arms control, said there was a credible threat of some sort
of nuclear device being employed.

Confusion over death

Dr Anthony Fauci of the National Institutes of Health said
it was a "mystery" how Nguyen had contracted anthrax.

She did not work near the buildings in New York that received
or processed anthrax-laced mail.

There have now been 17 confirmed cases of anthrax in the US,
including 10 cases of inhalation anthrax and seven of the less
dangerous skin anthrax.

Most seem to have been the result of spores being sent through
the post.

US-based suspects

Investigators now think US-based extremists are behind the
attacks, rather than foreign terrorists.

Postal facilities in New Jersey, New York and Washington have
also been hit by the bacteria.

Traces of anthrax in several federal buildings have interrupted
the work of America's executive, legislative and judicial powers:

Traces of anthrax have been found in a mailbag at the US embassy
in Lithuania, the first case of its kind in Europe White House
mail is in quarantine Congressional offices have been sealed with
staff having to work from temporary offices around the city Supreme
Court judges are convening elsewhere for the first time in the
court building's 66-year history The State Department has cut
off mail to 240 embassies and consulates worldwide

US withdraws from ABM treaty Thursday, 13 December, 2001,
18:17 GMT

It was high-profile announcement from Bush US President George
W Bush has officially announced that the US will withdraw from
the 1972 Anti-Ballistic Missile treaty with Russia.

"I have concluded the ABM treaty hinders our government's
ability to develop ways to protect our people from future terrorist
or rogue-state missile attacks," Mr Bush announced following
a meeting with his National Security Council.

Russian President Vladimir Putin said that the move was not
unexpected but that he considered it a "mistake".

Both Mr Bush and Mr Putin said that the decision would not
undermine Russian national security.

Russia warning

"Defending the American people is my highest priority
as commander in chief and I cannot and will not allow the United
States to remain in a treaty that prevents us from developing
effective defences," Mr Bush said at the White House Rose
Garden.

He had informed Congressional leaders of his decision on Wednesday.

Earlier on Thursday, the US ambassador in Moscow delivered
a formal document informing the Russian Government of the decision
and invoking Article 15 of the treaty, which gives Russia six
months' notice before the treaty expires.

"This step was not a surprise for us. However, we consider
it a mistake," Mr Putin said in a national television broadcast.

"I fully believe that the decision taken by the president
of the United States does not pose a threat to the national security
of the Russian Federation," he said.

Russia had previously warned that a US withdrawal would trigger
a new nuclear arms race and weaken international security.

But Moscow has softened its line in recent months.

The Russian Prime Minister, Mikhail Kasyanov, said on Thursday
that the decision was "a cause of annoyance" for Moscow,
but that Washington was within its rights.

President Bush also emphasised
that Russia had no reason to fear.

"The Cold War is long gone," Mr Bush said.

"Today we leave behind one of its last vestiges. But this
is not a day for looking back. This is a day for looking forward
with hope of greater prosperity and peace."

'Agreement with Putin'

The president said that before making his decision he had consulted
his security advisers and had discussed the issues with "my
friend President Vladimir Putin," over several meetings this
year.

But the withdrawal was criticised by Democrat leaders in the
American Congress, who worry it could undermine arms control and
antagonise Russia and China, despite Mr Bush's assurances.

Mr Bush says that states like North Korea and Iran are ambitiously
pursuing weapons of mass destruction and proposes a missile defence
system to combat the threat.

Mr Putin has been firmly opposed to the system, saying it would
destroy the existing nuclear balance and create a new arms race.

He has said it could eventually undermine the Russian nuclear
deterrent.

After President Bush's announcement, the French foreign ministry
called for a new international arms agreemeent to replace the
ABM.

"Beyond the American-Russian bilateral relationship, the
need to continue to ensure stability in this new global context
remains a task for us all," the ministry statement said.

"That supposes, in particular, rules and binding international
measures, as much bilateral as multilateral."

Sweden criticised the US decision to withdraw. A foreign ministry
statement warned of possibly "serious consequences for the
future of international disarmament".

Wednesday, 12 December, 2001, 16:32 GMT US to withdraw from
ABM treaty Mr Bush thinks the Cold War treaty is outdated US President
George W Bush has told Congress leaders that the US will withdraw
from the 1972 Anti-Ballistic Missile treaty with Russia, Senate
Majority leader Thomas Daschle said.

When asked whether members of Congress visiting the White House
had been informed of Mr Bush's decision to withdraw, Mr Daschle
replied: "Yes we were."

Speaking on Tuesday during a visit to a military school in
Charleston, South Carolina, Mr Bush had said the US must "move
beyond" the treaty that bans testing of missile defence systems.

Mr Bush has long been a critic of the treaty signed with Russia
during the Cold War, seeing it as outdated and an obstacle to
developing a controversial anti-missile defence system (NMD).

Attack fears

Moscow is opposed to an American withdrawal, saying the treaty
is essential for international security.

Mr Daschle, speaking after a weekly breakfast meeting between
Mr Bush and the leaders of Congress, did not say when the president
intended to announce his decision.

Click here for details of the nuclear balance

Diplomatic sources in Moscow said Russia had been informed
that the decision would be made official on Thursday, according
to Interfax news agency.

The ABM treaty requires either the United States or Russia
to give six months' notice before abandoning the pact, giving
both sides time to fashion a compromise agreement.

The sides failed to agree when they held talks in Washington
in November.

During those talks, Mr Bush warned Russian President Vladimir
Putin that the US would withdraw from the treaty in January even
if Moscow and Washington had not agreed a deal by then.

Future threat

From the start of his tenure as president, Mr Bush has maintained
that the treaty is outdated and that Russia is no longer America's
enemy.

He says that states like North Korea and Iran are ambitiously
pursuing weapons of mass destruction and that in a few years they
will be the real threat to America.

Mr Bush wants to develop NMD as protection against this.

Mr Putin is firmly opposed to NMD, saying that such a system
would destroy the existing nuclear balance and create a new arms
race.

He says it could eventually undermine the Russian nuclear deterrent
by bringing Russia within range of a missile defence shield too.

Russian media fear this could set a bad precedent President
George Bush's announcement that the US will unilaterally quit
the 1972 Anti-Ballistic Missile treaty in order to press ahead
with its own missile defence programme has been received with
anger and dismay in Russia.

Russian media reflected the fears over the move and voiced
criticism of what was described as Moscow's complacency during
the period running up to the US decision.

The decision was a major diplomatic failure for Russia, according
to some sources.

"The US withdrawal from the ABM treaty points to a serious
failure of Russian foreign policy," the Russian web site
SMI.ru said.

"The Russian Government did nothing to avert the collapse
of the treaty," it added.

The Grani.ru web site accused the Russian Government of intransigence
for having refused to negotiate a compromise agreement or ask
for appropriate compensation.

Whenever there was an opportunity to discuss a compromise,
"Russia reverted to type in claiming that ABM was a 'cornerstone
of strategic stability'," the website said.

Russia's business daily Kommersant, on the other hand, noted
Moscow's calm response to the US decision, suggesting that Russia
was hoping its low-key reaction might still pay off.

"The reluctance to spoil relations with the United States
is not the only explanation of Moscow's calm reaction. It looks
as though Russia is still hoping to receive compensation for remaining
calm."

Arms treaties threatened

Fears have been voiced that the unilateral US pull-out from
ABM has set a bad precedent, threatening to wreck other international
arms treaties.

"What the Russian military fears most is that the withdrawal
from the ABM treaty will destroy the entire existing system of
arms control treaties," the Moscow daily Gazeta said.

"The inspection regime will come to an end and the United
States will be able to develop its national missile defence system
virtually uncontrolled," the paper said.

But some officials looked on the bright side of the US move,
arguing it may well be to Russia's advantage in the long run.

Mikhail Margelov, the head of the upper house foreign affairs
committee, said Russia would benefit from the US pullout, Gazeta
reported.

Russia would now be free to decide its own numbers of nuclear
warheads for ballistic missiles, he said.

The prominent daily Izvestiya noted with some satisfaction
that both Russia and the US were now free from obligations set
out in the START II treaty.

Konstantin Kosachev, the deputy head of the Duma international
affairs committee, told Gazeta: "We should immediately tell
the Americans that when the six-month deadline expires Russia
will withdraw from the START II treaty."

Arms race possible

Many Russian reports noted that the US decision might spark
an arms race.

Nezavisimaya Gazeta said the US decision was a "significant
blow to strategic stability in the world, which will lead to a
change in the military-political situation."

It quoted Anatoliy Kvashnin, the chief of general staff, as
saying the US decision "will untie the hands of a number
of states, leading to a new round of the arms race".

Strana.ru quoted Duma official Vladimir Volkov as saying: "We
should expect Beijing's appropriate response to be an increase
in the number of its nuclear warheads."

This in turn would force India and Pakistan to build up their
own nuclear potential.

"On the whole, it will result in a new arms race and a
decline in the level of security," Mr Volkov said.

BBC Monitoring, based in Caversham in southern England, selects
and translates information from radio, television, press, news
agencies and the Internet from 150 countries in more than 70 languages.

Russian police have arrested seven men trying to sell more
than one kilogram (2.2 pounds) of suspected weapons-grade uranium.

If the material is established to be the high-level enriched
variety of uranium-235, this will be the first confirmed case
of a theft of this kind in Russia itself.

Russian Interior Ministry spokesman Oleg Yelnikov said the
amount of uranium was too small to make a nuclear device, and
that it seemed that the men had got their hands on it by chance.

However the incident is likely to increase international concern
over the possibility that nuclear material could fall into the
hands of militant groups.

"It looks like they accidentally got their hands on the
uranium and were trying to sell it," Mr Yelnikov told the
Associated Press news agency.

"It's not like they were trying to sell the material to
some Afghan terrorists," he added.

Mr Yelnikov said that most of the suspects, arrested outside
Moscow overnight on Tuesday, allegedly belonged to the well-known
Balashikha criminal gang.

They apparently tried to sell the uranium for $30,000 to another
gang, but as yet there is no clear indication of how they had
obtained the uranium in the first place.

Russian nuclear experts are examining the capsule containing
the uranium to determine its place of origin and assess it potency.

It is thought it could have come from a nuclear research centre
or a production plant.

Nuclear risk

The UN's International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) warned recently
that the security and regulation of nuclear material in the former
Soviet Union was deficient, and called for greater international
efforts to reduce the risk of nuclear smuggling.

David Kyd of the IAEA told BBC News Online there had been 175
known cases of attempts to smuggle nuclear material out of former
Soviet Republics.

The largest confirmed disappearance of weapons-grade uranium
from the former Soviet Union was in Georgia, where in July police
arrested three men attempting to sell 1.7 kilograms (3.75lbs)
of uranium-235 to buyers in Turkey.

Turkish police seize enriched
uranium Wednesday, 7 November, 2001, 14:03 GMT Istanbul has
become a hub of trafficking in illegal substances Police in Turkey
have detained two men who attempted to sell enriched uranium suitable
for use in nuclear weapons.

A police official in Istanbul said the two men offered over
a kilogram of uranium, wrapped in a newspaper, to undercover agents.

The detentions came just a day after the US President George
Bush said Osama Bin Laden's al-Qaeda organisation was seeking
to acquire nuclear, chemical and biological weapons "to destabilise
entire nations and regions".

A Turkish police official said the arrested men - an ambulance
driver and his friend - were not aware of the uranium's real value
and agreed to sell it for $750,000.

"They were barely aware of what they were selling. They
only knew it was a very expensive substance and wanted to make
money," he told the Associated Press news agency.

Russian connection

The men said they bought the substance from a Russian man several
months ago.

It is believed that the uranium comes from one of the former
Soviet republics.

The seizure in Istanbul took place as undercover agents arranged
a final meeting with the two men, with whom they had been in contact
for a month.

Turkish police said that examination of the substance established
it was enriched uranium that could be used to make nuclear weapons.

Trafficking in illegal substances has increased since the collapse
of Soviet Union, and Istanbul has become the hub of the so-called
'suitcase' trade. In August, Turkish police arrested six people
for selling nuclear material.

Thursday, 20 December, 2001, 18:31 GMT Anthrax probe into
US project

Anthrax is a disease caused by the organism bacillus anthracis.
It derives its name from anthrakis, the Greek word for coal, because
the cutaneous version of the disease can cause black skin lesions.
It is rarely seen in people and mostly affects hoofed animals,
which become infected after ingesting the dormant forms of the
bacteria - the spores - in soil. The spores can remain dormant
in the soil for many years. It is infrequent in western Europe
and the US and is more often found in south and central America,
south and east Europe, Asia and Africa. Traditionally people most
at risk are those who work with animals or in industries processing
animal products such as meat and wool. Anthrax is not contagious.
The only way to be infected is by being exposed to large numbers
of spores.

At the centre of the inquiry is an army testing facility in
Utah The inquiry into the anthrax letters sent to politicians
and media organisations in America is focusing on the US Government's
little-known programme to produce "weapons-grade" anthrax,
US reports say.

Investigators suspect that a rogue scientist may have obtained
access to samples of the bacteria.

The US says it is developing the sophisticated varieties of
anthrax in order to test the effectiveness of vaccines, although
critics say the programme may contravene an international treaty
on biological weapons.

Over the last few weeks there have been several reports suggesting
that the FBI's prime suspicions rest on a domestic source for
the anthrax, although the bureau maintains publicly that it is
keeping all options open.

According to the Washington Post newspaper, samples of the
experimental anthrax have been sent regularly between an army
production facility in Utah and an army test laboratory near Washington.

The paper has obtained shipping records which it says suggest
that not all the anthrax has been accounted for.

Government programme

According to the US Government, the aim of the project is to
reproduce a variety of anthrax developed by the Soviet bio-weapons
programme in the 1980s.

Having re-created this virulent strain, they can then test
vaccines against it.

Earlier this month a former UN biological weapons inspector
told a US committee that the anthrax sent in the letters was of
a higher grade than anything produced by the Soviet Union, by
Iraq, or by the former US bio-weapons programme which officially
finished in 1969.

The BBC's science correspondent, Richard Black, says most experts
believe the current US programme is permitted by the 1972 treaty
on biological weapons control, though some critics disagree, saying
that the anthrax could be used offensively.

According to ABC News, citing federal authorities, the FBI
is interviewing current and former scientists at the Utah facility,
as well as at a private laboratory in Ohio run by the Battellie
Memorial Institute - the other institution involved in the programme.

Some 200 US scientists dealt with the anthrax programme over
the last five years, ABC said.

'Find a motive'

A leading expert in bio-terrorism, Barbara Hatch Rosenberg,
who works as a molecular biologist at the State University of
New York, has told the FBI the perpetrator probably has connections
with the government.

"Many contractors work in government labs and would have
access to material," said Ms Rosenberg.

She said the key to the investigation would probably involve
finding someone with a motive, rather than further scientific
analysis of the anthrax.

A day after the US Center for Disease and Control (CDC) announced
that it would offer anthrax vaccinations or more antibiotics to
thousands of people who were exposed to the disease during the
mail attacks, the authorities are seeking to dispel confusion
over who should consider them.

Authorities now say it is conceivable the spores could linger
in the body for longer than after the 60 days of antibiotic therapy
typically prescribed.

There are also concerns that the vaccine could have side effects.

CDC Director Dr Jeffrey Koplan told the AP news agency three
groups of people should seriously consider the treatment:

People who had significant contact with an anthrax-laced powder
or envelope People who worked in areas where someone became infected
with inhaled anthrax People in environments heavily contaminated
with anthrax

The ABC said th scientist once employed at the Batelle company
a secret anthrax producing facility in Columbus Ohio, who was
twice fired, made a threat to use anthrax in the days after the
September 11 attacks.

Tuesday, 22 January, 2002, 12:10 GMT Alarm over US lab security

The findings will add to US fears over anthrax By the BBC's
Michael Buchanan in Washington

An inquiry into allegations of lax security at the American
army's main biological warfare research centre has found evidence
that more than two dozen potentially dangerous samples went missing.

The lost specimens include the microbe that causes anthrax
and the ebola virus.

The discoveries, which have only now come to light, were made
by army investigators ten years ago.

They come as US law enforcement agencies struggle to solve
a series of anthrax attacks that killed five people last year.

As the inquiry into the anthrax killings appears to be making
little headway, these revelations add weight to an increasingly
popular theory - that last year's attacks were carried out by
a current or former scientist at the army's bio-warfare research
centre in Maryland.

'Unauthorised research'

Army investigators discovered that 27 potentially dangerous
samples were missing from the lab, and that unauthorised anthrax
research was taking place at weekends and evenings in February
1992.

A probe was launched to find the missing specimens.

One batch was found in a laboratory along with portions of
others but the whereabouts of most is still unknown.

People who worked at the centre at the time said there was
little or no organisation or accountability at the laboratory,
and that it would have been easy for an employee to take away
a few samples.

Congress has since imposed strict security measures on the
research of dangerous microbes.

But with the authorities expected to raise the reward this
week for information leading to the conviction of the anthrax
attacker, these revelations could not have come at a worse time.

Work to destroy missiles is behind schedule By BBC News Online's
Tom Housden

Over the last decade, America is thought to have spent several
billion dollars on securing the former Soviet Union's vast arsenal
of nuclear, chemical and biological weapons.

But some of the weapons stocks remain unaccounted for.

The 11 September attacks and anthrax outbreaks have rekindled
fears that some may have fallen into the wrong hands.

Ten years ago the Nunn-Lugar agreement was drawn up as part
of a series of US-Russian initiatives aimed at safeguarding weapons
of mass destruction amid the political chaos and instability which
followed the collapse of the Soviet Union.

But Republican Senator Richard Lugar, who co-authored the legislation,
admits that work to secure the biological and chemical stockpiles
remains far from complete, while the safe disposal of nuclear
weapons material is difficult.

There is also concern that impoverished or disaffected Russian
scientists may decide to export their knowledge - and may not
be too scrupulous about who they work for.

Complacency

Prior to the 11 September attacks on America, US backing for
the schemes seemed to be waning amid a backdrop of disorganisation
and growing mutual distrust.

Siegfried Heckler, former director of the US Los Alamos National
Laboratory, recently warned that work to safeguard and eliminate
weapons of mass destruction was being undermined by inertia and
complacency.

"Nothing really serious has happened, but a decade after
the collapse of the Soviet Union, Russia's nuclear complex is
largely intact, vastly oversized and overstaffed," he told
the International Herald and Tribune.

Ex-Soviet republics are thought to have 7-800 tons of enriched
uranium remaining from its Cold War stockpiles, with an additional
150-200 tons of enriched plutonium.

Although making large-scale nuclear weapons requires a high
degree of expertise, there are fears that terrorists could scrape
together sufficient supplies of radioactive material to produce
a small and crude, yet devastating bomb.

These so-called dirty bombs could be manufactured by simply
wrapping small amounts of radioactive material in conventional
explosives.

Renewed impetus

In March this year the Bush administration delayed an initiative
drawn up by the Clinton government aimed at destroying plutonium
stocks and helping Russian scientists find new jobs or careers.

Now there is renewed impetus for another effort. Senator Lugar
said he hopes that this year funding will be boosted for the arms
reduction and control initiatives.

The US recently upgraded security at storage facilities thought
to be most vulnerable to theft, but further monitoring has been
restricted by the Russian Energy Department.

The US recently agreed
with Uzbekistan that weapons-grade anthrax spores dumped on the
island of Vozrozhdeniye in the Aral Sea will be removed and destroyed.

Vozrozhdeniye - the world's largest burial site of weapons-grade
anthrax - served as a Russian biological and chemical warfare
test site for more than 60 years.

Clean-up

The island was reputedly used for testing tularaemia, Q-fever,
brucellosis, glanders and plague during the 1970s.

It is believed that military laboratories also tested typhus,
botulinum toxin, Venezuelan equine encephalitis, smallpox, and
microbial strains with high virulence and resistance to ultraviolet
rays or heat.

The facility was abandoned in 1992, but a survey by US scientists
in 1997 found that anthrax remained infectious in six out of 11
burial sites.

Clearing up Vozrozhdeniye is becoming more urgent given that
the Aral Sea is shrinking each year. The island will soon be accessible
by land.

The US is also to assist with funding improvements to security
at germ warfare research and storage facilities elsewhere in Uzbekistan.

It has also been predicted that the US Congress will also now
pass a long-awaited $35m contribution towards a $200m plant to
destroy Soviet chemical weapons.

Tuesday, 13 November, 2001, 08:27 GMT US to trim nuclear
arsenal

The US expects Russia to cut its arsenal too

US President George W Bush said he would go ahead with substantial
cuts in the US nuclear arsenal even if Russia failed to match
them as Russian President Vladimir Putin arrived in Washington
for his first official visit.

President Bush told Russian journalists there was no need for
long discussions and he expected Mr Putin would produce plans
to scale back Russia's nuclear arms.

The US president said he would also argue that the existing
anti-ballistic missile treaty was outdated because it prevented
the development of defensive weapons systems that reflected real
threats.

Mr Bush praised Mr Putin, saying they were close to forging
a relationship that would outlive their presidencies.

Mr Putin is on a three-day visit to the US which will include
meetings at President Bush's ranch in Texas.

No explicit link will be made with Russian requests, but President
Putin may indicate that he would like movement on debt relief
and trade access, our correspondent says.

The 11 September attacks have pushed America and Russia closer
together. Both leaders see this meeting as a chance to help reshape
one of their most important strategic relationships.

Tuesday, 13 November, 2001, 20:25 GMT US to slash nuclear arsenal
Both leaders stressed their new trusting relationship US President
George W Bush has made an historic pledge to cut America's nuclear
arsenal by up to two-thirds.

Speaking after talks with his Russian counterpart Vladimir
Putin, President Bush said the US would reduce operational nuclear
warheads from about 7,000 to between 1,700 and 2,200 over the
next decade.

The two leaders also discussed US plans for missile defence
and the subsequent fate of the bilateral Anti-Ballistic Missile
treaty.

But there was no agreement on this subject and President Putin
said the two leaders needed to continue talks at President Bush's
ranch at Crawford, Texas on Wednesday and Thursday.

Both men stressed that the relationship between their countries
had transformed from that of the Cold War era. President Bush
said it had changed "from one based on suspicion to one based
on trust".

'Cuts appreciated'

The Russian leader said he appreciated the cuts in the United
State's nuclear stockpiles and said Russia would try to respond
in kind.

Russia is known to be keen to dismantle a large number of their
own missiles because they are so expensive to maintain.

Presidents Bush and Putin have been brought closer together
by the 11 September attacks on the US. President Putin was the
first world leader to send his condolences, and the two men told
the press they would co-operate to beat terrorism.

In remarks broadcast on Russian television, Mr Putin said he
would reduce the number of Russia's long-range weapons to about
one-third of its present level.

"The current level does not correspond either to the present-day
international situation, or to the nature of the new threats,"
said Mr Putin.

The two presidents are set to continue their three-day summit
meeting in Texas on Wednesday, as they try to reach agreement
on US plans for missile defence.

On Tuesday, President Bush delivered an historic pledge in
Washington to cut America's nuclear arsenal by up to two-thirds.

Mr Putin said he appreciated the cuts and said Russia would
try to respond in kind, but gave no time frame.

Speaking after his meeting with Mr Bush, the Russia leader
said he was proposing "a radical programme of further cuts
in strategic offensive weapons - down to the minimal level necessary
for maintaining a strategic balance in the world".

Such a reduction would bring Russia's long-range nuclear arsenal
down from more than 6,000 missiles to about 2,000.

President Bush said the US would reduce operational nuclear
warheads from about 7,000 to between 1,700 and 2,200 over the
next decade.

Russia is known to be keen to dismantle a large number of its
own missiles because they are so expensive to maintain.

Despite progress on arms cuts, the two presidents have as yet
failed to find a compromise on missile defence and the subsequent
fate of the bilateral Anti-Ballistic Missile treaty.

Common ground

Both men stressed that the relationship between their countries
had been transformed from that of the Cold War era. President
Bush said it had changed "from one based on suspicion to
one based on trust".

Presidents Bush and Putin have been brought closer together
by the 11 September attacks on the US. President Putin was the
first world leader to send his condolences, and the two men said
they would co-operate to beat terrorism.

They also found common ground on the issue of a future government
in Afghanistan - President Bush said he and President Putin backed
the UN call for a broadly-based and multi-ethnic administration
in the ravaged country.

However, the BBC's Philippa Thomas noted that while President
Bush said the Northern Alliance would find no preferential treatment
at the negotiating table, Russia has been supporting the Alliance
for years - a source of potential tension.

President Bush said the talks heralded "a new day in the
long history of Russian-American relations, a day of progress
and a day of hope."

Reflecting this new-found trust, the US leader said there was
no need for "endless" discussions on arms control.

"I looked the man in the eye and shook his hand. But if
you need to write it down on a piece of paper I'll be glad to
do that," he said.

Mr Putin, for his part, stressed the need for a "reliable
and verifiable agreement" on cutting arms.

President Bush also said he would work to end Cold War-era
restrictions on bilateral trade.

Russia and the United States have failed to reach agreement
on US plans for a missile defence shield, despite three days of
talks between George W Bush and Vladimir Putin. The two men -
who met at Mr Bush's ranch near Crawford, Texas - praised each
other warmly at a joint press conference on Thursday. But Mr Bush
said they had a "difference of opinion" over missile
defence. Russia strongly opposes Washington's plans to abrogate
the 1972 Anti-Ballistic Missile treaty, which bans systems like
the one Mr Bush wants. Mr Bush and Mr Putin spoke to students
at a school in Crawford after their meeting ended. Mr Bush called
the Russian leader a "man who will make a huge difference".
Mr Putin said the US president was "one who does what he
says". Both drew laughter with light-hearted comments about
the heat in Texas and the cold in Russia. But they were unable
to paper over the significant differences between their positions
with jokes or positive spin. "We differ in the ways and means
we perceive that are suitable for reaching the same objective",
Mr Putin said. Arms reduction President Putin's visit to Crawford
followed the two leaders' talks yesterday at the White House,
when President Bush offered to slash America's nuclear stockpiles.
The Russian leader later offered to reduce Russia's long-range
weapons by about one-third. The Crawford visit was not all work.
President Bush personally picked up President Putin and his wife
in a jeep for a tour of the 650-hectare (1,600-acre) ranch, before
a Texas-style feast on Wednesday evening. White House officials
had earlier warned the media not to expect an accord on missile
defence. "This is one stop along the road. We'll make other
stops after Crawford but each stop is built on the positive results
of the earlier meetings," said White House press secretary
Ari Fleischer. Common ground Mr Bush stressed in Crawford that
the relationship between their countries had been transformed
from that of the Cold War era. Presidents Bush and Putin have
been brought closer together by the 11 September attacks on the
US. President Putin was the first world leader to send his condolences,
and the two men said they would co-operate to beat terrorism.
They have also found common ground on the issue of a future government
in Afghanistan - President Bush said on Wednesday he and President
Putin backed the UN call for a broadly-based and multi-ethnic
administration in the ravaged country. However, the BBC's Philippa
Thomas noted that while President Bush said the Northern Alliance
would find no preferential treatment at the negotiating table,
Russia has been supporting the Alliance for years - a source of
potential tension.

The Chernobyl nuclear reactor disaster affected millions The
nuclear disaster at Chernobyl has produced the biggest group of
cancers ever from a single incident, according to UK and US scientists.

Almost 2,000 cases of thyroid cancer have resulted from the
reactor explosion at the Ukrainian power station 15 years ago.

Researchers predict that the number of cancers is sure to rise
further in years to come.

Another study suggests that workers who were sent in to try
to clean up the plant following the explosion are at a significantly
increased risk of lung cancer.

All of them had evidence of inhaled radioactive dust in their
lungs.

Estimates suggest that the reactor fire at Chernobyl released
large quantities of radiactive isotopes of iodine into the environment.

Children need iodine during their development, and it is taken
up by the thyroid gland, so this is where the radioactive material
accumulated, and delivered a highly concentrated dose to the tissues
there.

Thyroid cancer following exposure of this sort may take time
to develop.

Treatable illness

Dr Elaine Ron, from the US National Cancer Institute in Bethesda,
Maryland, said: "The elevated risk of thyroid cancer appears
to continue throughout life, but there is some indication that
the risk may be highest 15 to 19 years after exposure."

Fortunately, thyroid cancer is a very treatable disease, so
few of the 2,000 who have developed it as a result of Chernobyl
have died.

Professor Dillwyn Williams, from the Strangeways Research Laboratory
at Cambridge University, said: "Few of the patients have
died, but help is still needed.

"Exposure to isotopes of iodine give the thyroid more
than 1,000 times the average dose to the rest of the body."

Children, he said, were particularly sensitive because the
gland was still growing.

Five million exposed

It is thought that as many as five million people were exposed
to some sort of health hazard following the Chernobyl disaster.

The latest Russian research, carried out by Victor Chizhikov
at the Institute of Pulmonology in Moscow, followed reports of
chronic respiratory problems among clean-up workers.

It looked for molecular abnormalities in the lung lining of
more than 40 of these workers which might indicate an increased
risk of lung cancer.

One type of abnormality was found in more than 60% of the volunteers,
and just under a quarter had another.

The majority of the group were smokers, but Mr Chizhikov said
they represented a "distinct spectrum of molecular alterations"
and a "high risk" of lung cancer.

Wednesday, 16 January, 2002,
16:46 GMT Chernobyl trauma lives on

The Chernobyl disaster has left deep scars on Ukraine Nearly
16 years after the explosions at the Chernobyl nuclear power station
in the then-Soviet Republic of Ukraine, the repercussions of the
world's worst nuclear accident are still being felt across the
region.

The official number of people affected by the disaster is put
at about seven million, but only a small fraction of these were
people killed by the explosions or emergency workers who died
or became seriously ill after exposure to intense nuclear radiation.

Since the accident, many other victims have reportedly suffered
from a range of health problems.

Some 2,000 cases of thyroid cancer have been identified.

But a forthcoming UN report is expected to blame many health
problems not on radiation, but on the trauma of mass evacuation
and official systems of compensation.

Patrick Gray, who led the research team, told the BBC that
many people were classified as victims either because they lost
their homes or were involved in the clean-up and at risk of illness.

"Basically the system was one which was established in
the Soviet period which involved compensating people for exposure
to risk rather than actual medical need," he said.

One of the radiation victims is Helena Kostuchenko, a 34-year
old single mother who is now living in Ukraine's capital, Kiev.

She was 19 and pregnant when the accident happened. In a BBC
interview, she recalls the confusion surrounding the evacuation
from her home village near Chernobyl to western Ukraine.

"We saw all these busses leaving, but it looked like they
were not going to evacuate us."

In the end, Helena left only by chance: "Thanks to one
policeman who saw I was pregnant and told my mother-in-law to
send me somewhere at any cost," she said.

Like so many others, she did not realise until much later how
much danger she had been exposed to.

"Radiation does not bite. You cannot see it or feel it.
And we always thought they would let us know in case it is something
serious."

"I realised I am a victim of Chernobyl when my daughter
Anna was born. She is handicapped from her birth. She has liver
and bone disorders, which lead to blood problems."

Psychological scars

And then there is the psychological damage. Helena says Chernobyl
has ruined her life.

"The accident has deprived me of any perspective. I was
19 when it all happened. I had my dreams and hopes. I became no
one. I am nothing. I belong to no where."

"All these15 years we have been trying to survive. My
daughter has no perspective too. She is sick. She doesn't go to
school. The teacher comes to us twice a week. So what is her future?"

Researcher Patrick Gray says the deep-rooted pessimism among
many people in the region is often passed on to the next generation:

"Many people believe that they are, if you like, condemned
by the accident."

That feeling even affects people in areas where there was little
or no radioactive contamination.

"It is very difficult to persuade people in Belarus, and
Ukraine and parts of western Russia that they have the same life
expectancy as people who live in other parts of the world,"
Mr Gray says.

Five years after the disaster, in 1991, Helena Kostuchenko
was officially classified as a Chernobyl victim and received compensation.

Resentment

But that has proved only a small relief, she says, because
her new neighbours in Kiev are jealous.

The resentment felt by some Ukrainians towards the official
Chernobyl victims stems partly from the haphazard compensation
system and partly from the collapse of the welfare state, explains
Patrick Gray.

"With the break-up of the Soviet Union and the economic
crisis that followed, the special pensions that were paid for
people who were considered to be invalids or severely affected
by Chernobyl, took the place of the welfare state."

The mass evacuations - some 400,000 people were forced to leave
their homes in 1986 - had their own side-effects too, impoverishing
some areas and causing severe problems in places where people
moved to.

"Many of these people were unable to find employment because
they were farmers and peasants, and they had to be moved into
blocks of flats in cities in some cases, " said Mr Gray.

But, he says, it would be wrong to blame it all on the authorities
as they did what they thought was best at the time.

For Helena Kostuchenko though, bitterness is all that remains.

"There was a village named Kopachi - my home. It does
not exist anymore," she said. "They have ruined it all
with bulldozers. So I don't have a place to come back to even
if I wished to.

"It is very awkward feeling - when you know that you have
lost your childhood. There is no place you can show to your children.
There is only this ruined reactor one kilometre north from this
place."

Sunday, 30 December, 2001, 11:11 GMT Agent Orange hotspots
located

By BBC Science's Helen Sewell

Scientists investigating the effects of Agent Orange in Vietnam
have found that people living in a so-called hotspot have the
highest blood levels of its poisonous chemical dioxin ever recorded
in the country.

Agent Orange, which has the dioxin (TCDD - short for 2,3,7,8-tetrachlorodibenzo-p-dioxin)
as one of its constituents, was last used in 1973.

But today, some residents of Binh-Hoa, near Ho Chi Minh City,
have 200 times the normal amount of dioxin in their bloodstreams.

Agent Orange was widely used by the US military during the
Vietnam War as a defoliant so that Vietnam's dense jungle could
not provide cover for Viet Cong forces.

'
NZ serviceman who was sprayed has two family members
with neurological and other genetic defects.

Startling' results

It was when US veterans started to become ill with a variety
of health problems that investigations suggested that Agent Orange
could be involved.

The most dangerous ingredient was the dioxin, a pollutant that
stays in the environment for decades.

There are still about 12 dioxin hotspots in Vietnam, in areas
where very heavy spraying took place.

Scientists from the United States have been working with the
Vietnamese Red Cross in these areas, testing residents to see
whether they are suffering any ill effects.

The lead scientist, Professor Arnold Schecter of the University
of Texas, says they are "very startled" by the results.

Export worry

In a paper to be published in the journal Occupational and
Environmental Medicine, he says that in Binh-Hoa, 95% of people
sampled had elevated levels of dioxin in their bloodstream, and
some had 200 times the average amount.

Dioxins, which include TCDD and other related compounds, can
cause cancers and problems with reproductive development, the
nervous and immune systems.

It is thought the high levels of dioxin found in Binh-Hoa residents
result from the chemical leaching into watercourses where it is
absorbed by fish and ducks, which form part of the Vietnamese
diet.

The issue is very sensitive for Vietnam, which exports these
foods all over the world.